Abstract:

Empathy and emotional competencies are very critical among the school leaders as well the teachers. Since the burnout rates are high among school leaders and teachers, the poor educational quality, the high dropout rates, the relational problems, the personal problems, like depression and suicide, and even the abuse could be exponentially increased. Therefore, specifically empathy and emotional competencies are needed to have harmonious educational ecosystems. While the school leaders and the teachers are improving their personal satisfaction and happiness, they can create better educational outcomes by enriching their students academically, physically, emotionally, intellectually, and socially. For that reason, the metacognitive-based interventions have been chosen to improve empathy and emotional competencies by making distinctions between personal feelings, needs, and interests and others’ feelings, needs, and interests and by regulating properly his/her own feelings, needs, and interests, including emotions.

In this research, the school leaders (n=21) and the teachers (n=168) were selected in seven state high schools. The data were collected by using Emotional Intelligence Assessment and Metacognitive-Based Intervention Assessment before and after the empathy and emotional competencies training taken 36 hours. The data collected before and after the training was analysed strategically and critically by using SPSS.

The results showed that the empathy and emotional competencies training had significantly increased 46% of the participants’ emotional intelligence, empathy, and the metacognitive-based interventions. The empathy and emotional competencies of the participants in metacognitive-based intervention, particularly in identifying personal feeling, needs, interests, and emotions had been developed by identifying and accepting others’ feeling, needs, interests, and emotions. More importantly, the social skills among the participants had been improved, particularly in coping with dramatic and complicated problems at the school ecosystems. Most of the participants’ empathy had significantly improved (%54) by identifying, recognizing, and naming their own emotions. More importantly, while becoming more aware about their own personal emotions, their self-control had improved which helped their metacognitive-based interventions skills. Most of the participants (%87) had become more skilled in dealing with their personal problems, such as burnout, the poor educational quality, the high dropout rates, the relational problems, the personal problems, like depression, stress, anxiety, and suicide, and even the abuse. Since the participants’ emotional acceptance had improved, they had better (%23) results in regulating their emotions without judging about the people and without ignoring, bullying, or abusing them. Therefore, the empathy and emotional competencies could help prevent the participants in dealing with emotional confusion, and social problems. These competencies were very critical in their metacognitive-based interventions in the school environment.

As a result, the school leaders’ and the teachers’ empathy and emotional competencies play important and crucial roles in the development of the metacognitive-based intervention at the school environment. The results had confirmed that empathy and emotional competencies had positive effects on metacognitive-based intervention, including on mental health and levels of mindfulness.

Keywords:

Empathy, Emotional Competencies, Metacognitive-Based Interventions, School Leaders, Teachers, School Leadership, Leadership Effectiveness, Educational Administration, Intervention, High School Dropout.